Resources for Weavers

Resources for Weavers

Weaving is one of those arts which can start out surprisingly affordable.. for example, you can build a loom for card weaving out of a couple of pencils and some C clamps, and end up absorbing so much of your retirement savings you’ll be playing the lottery hoping for gas money. Somewhere in the middle lies sanity, but links to freebies helps.

So let’s start with People Who Know What They’re Doing.. always helpful.

Ravelry.com has several groups dedicated to weavers, try Warped Weavers as a good starting point. You’ll also find a group dedicated to Macomber looms, very helpful if you own one of these workhorses.

Handweaving.net is one of my favorite places to noodle around looking at drafts. They offer a number of search options, .wif files, and, my personal favorite, have put up drafts from some of the first published weaving books. The thing that continues to amaze me is how modern and relevant a draft from 1789 is.

GlimakraUSAoffers free drafts and complete instructions for towels and blankets. We can order the Hanna blanket kit for you, or any of their towel kits, should you wish to go the “kit” route. Otherwise, you can customize your own weaving experience with Cottolin colors.

The American Antiquarian SocietyNot your first thought for weaving resources, right? But they hold a copy of the first weaving draft book published in the United States, John Hargrove’s “The weavers draft book and clothiers assistant..”

And lastly.. don’t underestimate the numbers of hours can can lose looking at drafts and finished work on Pinterest. It’s truly quite frightening. Just type in “card weaving” and there goes your entire afternoon!